The New York Islanders are a professional ice hockey team based in Elmont, New York. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) Eastern Conference's Metropolitan Division. Since their inaugural season in 1972, the team has played home games at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum (1972–2015, 2018–2021), Barclays Center (2015–2020) and currently play at UBS Arena (since 2021).[1] In forty-nine completed seasons, the team has won the Stanley Cup championship four times and has qualified for the playoffs twenty-seven times. They have played more than 310 playoff games, winning 172. As of the end of the 2021–22 season, New York has won more than 1,700 regular season games, the 15th-highest victory total among NHL teams.[2]
The Islanders were founded in 1972 during the 1972–73 season, and won their first of four consecutive Stanley Cup championships in 1980. The team has since lost the conference finals in 1993 to eventual Stanley Cup champions Montreal Canadiens. The Islanders did not qualify for the playoffs from 1995 to 2001, but appeared in three straight postseasons from 2002 to 2004. The Islanders have never won the Presidents' Trophy, although they led the NHL in regular-season points in three seasons before the league began awarding the trophy; they won the Stanley Cup in two out of the three seasons. They last reached the Stanley Cup Finals in 1984, their fifth consecutive appearance and first Finals loss. As of 2022, the Islanders are the last North American team to win four consecutive league championships.
In the lockout-shortened 2012–13 season, the Islanders returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2007, and just the second time since the 2004–05 NHL Lockout. After defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Patrick Division final in 1993 the Islanders did not win another playoff series until 2016. The Islanders advanced to the second round in the playoffs from 2019 to 2021 and advanced to the third round in both the 2019–20 and 2020–21 postseasons, marking the first time since 1984 they’d advanced to the third round in consecutive years. The Islanders lost to the eventual Stanley Cup champion Tampa Bay Lightning in both trips to the third round.